A Dainty Warrior's Journey
by Daintywhiskers
Summary: A cat with kittypet roots struggles to make her way in the forest. She finds it hard to fit in with her lack of strength, but is not kicked out because the Clans remember Firestar. But this kittypet has more of a resemblance to Scourge than to Firestar...
1. Prologue

**My first fanfiction which starts with a rubbishy prologue. But it'll get better later on prommiisseee~**

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_The sun shone on her silver pelt as she struggled through the twisted paths of the Twolegplace. Her slender paws padded along the gum-covered concrete and her eyes twinkled with the youth of a young cat but the rather unnatural bump on her stomach betrayed her. She had none of the innocence of youth and was instead a mother-to-be. Her name was Velvet and she looked as soft as her name. Velvet was escaping; from her life, which had been a boring thing, sitting and eating rubbish all day and from Domino._

_Domino was the father of her kits. But she didn't even know his real name; her sister had started to argue with her one day that his name was actually Scythe and another she-cat told her his name was Riddle. She didn't think about that now; she just kept walking along. Domino had told her that a group of cats had appeared one day near the place of the creatures with thundering paws. He said he'd heard them call it a horseplace, but Domino hadn't really cared about that. He just wanted to soften her up so he could get what all toms wanted._

_And now that she was having his kits, he didn't want her anymore. In fact, it was more than that. He wanted rid of her; which happened to be part of the reason she'd finally got up the courage to leave. However, Velvet hadn't counted on how long the journey would be and now she was tiring fast. She felt like she should just lie down and die. But her kits...she had to stay alive, so that they would experience life as happily as she had, before Domino._

_So she kept going on, and on, and on and then finally she reached the so-called horseplace. She sighed as she looked at the horseplace. It looked nice and safe and her stomach hurt a lot, presumably from hunger. A faint ripple passed through her but she ignored it, as she thought her stomach was just rumbling with hunger. She knew she had to stay outside by the lake. Domino said the cats that lived by the lake were wild and they'd attack her so she should never go there. But they were her only chance of survival, because there were probably housefolk in that horseplace and they'd force her to live the life of a house cat, and that was something she was trying to get away from._

_She passed the horseplace and continued across the moor. She found it a bit strange that she had not seen any other cats yet and consoled herself that she had not managed to get very far into the territory yet. Then her stomach rippled again and the pain worsened. It suddenly dawned on her that she could have been having her kits. She cried out and then flopped to the ground. She could suddenly smell cats; how many, she wasn't sure. But they were coming closer and she could hear them mewing to themselves._

_She knew the cats were wild but she was sure that they would at least know about kitbirth. She was scared and alone and weak. So she called out again and again as the ripples rocked her body. She saw one of them peer at her, a scrawny cat with a lot of wiry muscles. He was looking down at her with concern and he was the last thing she saw before she blacked out._

_-_

Velvet woke in a soft bed of moss, nestled round a single kit. She peered at it, a bit confused. She had been sure that there had been more than one moving in her stomach. She looked around her for it and saw only the cat she'd seen yesterday. He looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

"Where are my other kits?" she asked him, sounding panicked.

"Th-they died last night," he said, looking down. "I'm sorry."

For a moment Velvet was silent, overcome with grief. Then she turned to look at her remaining kit, so small and dainty. "I think I'll name her Dainty," she murmured. She turned to look at the tom with her, who seemed a bit surprised, as if for approval. He gave her a nod and came over to lick her forehead. "It suits her perfectly." He did not mention the naming traditions to Velvet; if this kit could prove its worth, it would earn a proper clan name.

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**sorry again for this crappy prologue ^^ but this is my first story so don't review me too harsh, please? thanks :)**

**daintywhiskers~**


	2. First Step Of Many

A five moon old kit played lazily with a ball of moss beside the freshkill pile, under the watchful eye of her mother and another cat, a tom. The kit was Dainty and her mother, who had been invited into WindClan after they learned of the torturous journey she had had to endure to reach them, was now Velvetclaw. As well as that, the clans remembered the great Firestar who had helped WindClan many times before they had attempted to be independent. The tom beside her was Sparrowflight, a tan coloured tom with small flecks of dark brown, and who was also the cat who had first informed Velvetclaw of the death of her kits. Since then, they had become close friends, something Sparrowflight's on and off mate was not pleased about.

Dainty on the other hand was quite happy with the arrangement. She considered herself as part-adult and liked to be by herself so Sparrowflight taking up all of Velvetclaw suited her quite well. There was only one thing that could possibly mar her perfect life at the moment and that was her upcoming apprentice ceremony. She hated the idea of having the name Daintypaw. It was just so...clunky. She liked her nice, short but sweet name that belonged to her at this moment and wanted it to stay that way.

Just then, a pretty but slightly plump tortoiseshell cat with dark paws and green eyes walked over to Dainty. She gave Velvetclaw and Sparrowflight a dirty look before turning to Dainty. "Look, Kestrelstar wants to speak with you. Something about your apprenticeship. I'd take you, but it's only over there and I need to have a look at where I'll put my nest in the nursery; I'm having kits, you know." The tortoiseshell fluffed up her fur and shot a look at Sparrowflight that said something like, 'See, I don't need you; I've got a new mate already.' Obviously, Dainty deduced, she was his old mate.

"Wow," Velvetclaw said, rather politely. "That's great for you, Cherrycloud! May I ask who the father is?"

"You may," Cherrycloud said, smirking. "And it's Kestrelstar." She pushed past Velvetclaw and into the nursery to have a look around it. Velvetclaw glared after her; the distaste Cherrycloud felt for Velvetclaw was mutual. Velvetclaw flicked her tail towards her daughter. "Go on then, Dainty. You must be excited about your apprenticeship; maybe Kestrelstar is going to let you start early."

Inwardly, Dainty groaned. Starting early was the opposite of fun. This was going to be horrible. She walked over to Kestrelstar's den and peeked inside. Kestrelstar was in there, talking with Wingriver, his best friend from kithood. As Dainty watched, she saw Kestrelstar pin Wingriver to the ground and then he began to make a weird sound, almost a moan. Dainty closed her eyes and turned away, rather embarrassed as she realised what he was doing. It seemed like Cherrycloud wasn't his only mate at the moment.

She gave them a few minutes as she sat outside, fidgeting and twitching her long whiskers. She was a bit ashamed at what she'd seen and was rather hesitant to interrupt the two. After what felt like ages, she decided she would cough loudly to let him know she was here. When that didn't work after she'd tried it three times she just said loudly, "Kestrelstar, are you in there? Cherrycloud said you wanted to talk to me..." She could make out the silhouette of Kestrelstar clambering off Wingriver and saying, "Uh, yes, one second. Right Wingriver, I'm so glad we discussed that. I'll talk to you about that again later – tonight maybe?"

Wingriver, a small white cat with grey eyes, nodded slightly then padded off towards the camp entrance, her tail held high. Kestrelstar gazed after her for a second then looked down at Dainty. "Aah, yes, Dainty. Come in, come in." He ushered her into his den and then cleared his throat.

"As you know, we're rather short of apprentices and warriors at the moment. We've been having a bit of trouble with the other clans, shortages of prey and stuff like that. We've lost a lot of warriors. There was one, Scytheriddle, who disappeared completely. No body or anything...Some of our warriors thought he'd left to become a kittypet but I believe he is drowned. Y'know, you remind me of him somehow," Kestrelstar mused, taking a pause. "Anyway, I am planning on making you an apprentice early. Cherrycloud is to be your mentor for most your training, but then she will have my kits and I shall take over. Is that alright?"

Dainty regarded the brown tom leader with a cautious eye. He didn't seem serious enough to be a leader. She should be leader instead of him. She'd be better and she'd get the cats training to be the toughest cats and no one would be beaten in battle or disappear. All her cats would rule the forest and she'd have a handsome tom beside her all the way, who'd wait on her hand and foot. Of course, she wouldn't have to do the training herself.

"Hello, Dainty? Are you going to answer?"

She was jolted out of her reverie by his question and quickly told him she was fine with the arrangement.

"Oh good," he said, sounding pleased. "I'll let you go tell Cherrycloud. We'll have the ceremony later tonight. StarClan will watch over it and then you can go to the next Gathering. Doesn't that sound great?"

Dainty looked at him like she thought he was a bit strange. He was talking to her like she was a kit! She was five moons old now, thank you very much. "Um, yeah, it sounds great. Will my name be Daintypaw now?" she asked, hoping that she would be allowed to keep her short name she'd been given at birth instead of adding on something.

"Of course!" he replied. "What else would it be?"

-

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey come forth and listen to what I have to stay!"

Kestrelstar shouted out the call that started a clan meeting. As cats started to gather, Dainty wasn't feeling nervous. Obviously Velvetclaw was, as she kept grooming Dainty's fur until Sparrowflight firmly stopped her. "I think she's clean enough," he said with a little _mrrow_ of laughter. Velvetclaw shot him a look of annoyance and said, "She's not clean enough until _I_ say she is."

Cherrycloud, who was standing nearby, waiting to receive her first apprentice, snorted, seemingly happy to see even the slightest hint of trouble between the two. Cherrycloud fluffed out her fur, looked down at Dainty and said, "Don't embarrass me up there, kit. Remember, after I'm named your mentor, we touch noses. Got it?" Dainty nodded as Kestrelstar began to speak.

"Okay, we're all gathered here for a special time in a kit's life. It's time for Dainty to become an apprentice." There were a few murmurs of disapproval in the crowd; not only was the kit too young, she was soft, looked weak and her parents were kittypets. Dainty held her head up and glared out at everyone. "Now, shh, this is a special night for Dainty. Dainty, come on up here." Dainty stalked over to Kestrelstar and stood determined. Okay, she hadn't liked the idea of being an apprentice, but if these cats didn't want her to be one, then she would be. Just to annoy them all. And she'd be pretty good at it too.

Kestrelstar had been warbling on about StarClan and the warrior code and was now looking at Dainty for an answer. "Uh, yes?" she said, hoping she'd picked the right answer.

"Great!" he said. "Your new name is Daintypaw. Oh, and Cherrycloud," he paused, motioning to Cherrycloud to approach," is your mentor. Cherrycloud, I know you will share with this kit your cunning and skill. Since you are pregnant, when you have the kits, I, being the father of them, will take over your position."

The newly-named Daintypaw looked into Cherrycloud's eyes as she touched noses with her. She could tell that Cherrycloud was happy but also seemed a bit resentful which didn't surprise her; she'd probably wanted a clan-born apprentice for her first. Anyway, she'd still teach her well, Dainty was sure.

After that, the ceremony was over and Daintypaw ran over to her mother. "I'm a clan cat, mother!" she exclaimed. "I'm a warrior."

Sparrowflight looked at her and said, "You're not a warrior yet. This is only the first step of many on your journey."


End file.
